Spirit Scholars

VISION 04: In which we consider a Timeless Spiritual Lesson about Time Itself from Charles Dickens, Pope Benedict and some old photos

“Lord, you have been our dwelling place in all generations.”
(from Psalm 90)

“Ghost of the Future!” Scrooge exclaimed to the Final Spirit, “I fear you more than any spectre I have seen. But, as I know your purpose is to do me good, and as I hope to live to be another man from what I was, I am prepared to bear you company, and do it with a thankful heart. Will you not speak to me?”
(from Charles Dickens, “A Christmas Carol”)

We’ll close this series of VISION-starters in the rapidly dwindling days of 2006 with the spiritual secret that Charles Dickens reveals only in the final chapter of his “Carol,” called “Chapter 5: The End of It.”

The secret? The peak of spiritual mindfulness involves not only trying to clearly discern the misty Future – but in mindfully sifting through Past, Present and Future as we pass through each moment.

This concept came back to us this week, like a thunderclap, in the convergence of several year-end projects involving Your Humble Editor here at Spirit Scholars. Mainly, this spiritual reminder involved the assembly of a historical photo album, reflecting a maternal branch of our family.

It’s an especially sturdy branch of our tree, in fact, and  seems to represent a substantial portion of the strong spiritual pull of our particular clan. The thirst for meaning in life, in our clan, remains as strong and fresh throughout our lives as – as – Well, as strong a thirst as we spotted from the late 1920s of a beloved uncle, now far into retirement, as the ringleader of three boys in the family garden outside Howe, Indiana.

In the Moment captured on film, it is late summer and these boys couldn’t wait to taste the succulent melons growing on the family's vines, so they hunkered down in the melon patch and my uncle was captured in a snapshot using his knee to break open one of the small, sweet melons – juice drizzling all around.

As we sifted through these long-ago images, some of them more than 100 years old and most of them 60 to 70 years old, we became fascinated with subtle details in these people’s lives: the cut of their clothes, the sturdy and roomy architecture of their homes and barns, the objects they held in photos – from boat oars to immense brass horns from a high-school band, to the melon bursting with juice.

Was this a spiritual pursuit? It felt like one -- but we wondered.

Then came Pope Benedict XVI’s message to an international congress in Rome on the future of museums around the world, held to mark the fifth centenary of the Vatican Museums. The pontiff said, in part, that museums are “a place for artistic meditation, links between the past, the present and the future, a crossroads for men and women from different continents, and research laboratories and centers for cultural and spiritual enrichment.”

At their best, the pope said, pondering artifacts of the past can provide “an eloquent testimony of the close and constant bond between the divine and the human in the life and history of peoples.”

If that weren’t enough inspiration, we also found ourselves paying a first-ever visit to the marvelous Arab American National Museum in Dearborn, touring the fascinating exhibits there with an old friend, Eide Alawan, a Lebanese-American Muslim from a family whose roots go back nearly as long as my own in this country. Eide has emerged as one of the most influential faces and voices of Islam in Michigan, a man who devotes himself tirelessly to bridge building between religious communities.

While touring the exhibits, we turned a corner into a hall honoring Arab-American veterans of the U.S. Armed Forces – and standing there almost as tall as in real life was a black-and-white photo of Eide’s brother, Chuck Alawan, a long-time bridge builder in metro Detroit especially throughout the 1980s. There was Chuck in the photo with dark hair as a young man, looking proud, capable and ready for a bright future in his U.S. Army uniform.

In that moment, it became clear, once again, that true spiritual mindfulness isn’t focused in a single direction. It’s a 360-degree reflection on our lives, using all our senses and spiritual powers to examine This Moment in light of All That Has Brought Us Here – and, in that light, The Next Step We Will Take.

As I completed my own family photo album this week, I wound up writing an essay for my large extended clan – and our family and friends – about what this particular branch of my own family tree has meant for so many.
Here’s an excerpt of that essay:

“The family of John and Mabel Yunker lived in northern Indiana near the small town of Howe. They blended a Swiss-American immigrant family with a strong work ethic and commitment to education (the Yunker clan) with a well-to-do farming family that had lived in the Midwest for many more years (the Kelly clan).
“Both families shared a deep Protestant faith. John and Mabel were well educated and passed a passion for education along to their children, who wound up moving in many directions: Bob became a Methodist pastor, Gwen a teacher, Marge a musician and the busy wife of a local Howe merchant, Helen moved to Texas and even Japan with her husband Warner Gillis, Jean wound up as president of the local bank and little Barbara became a Methodist pastor's wife and moved from the East Coast to various towns across southeast Michigan.
“These brothers and sisters passed along their family's core belief that each life has a purpose -- and discovering that purpose is what gives life its meaning. That legacy proved both a nagging curse and an enormous blessing. What are we meant to do? How are we meant to live? The pursuit of those questions produced further waves of pastors, farmers, teachers, health-care professionals, executives, writers, scholars and, in many cases, people of strong faith.
“Looking back at the early images of this remarkable clan, that sense of purpose and even the creative playfulness that accompanies innovation can be spotted in details large and small from the cut of their clothes to the things these people chose to carry with them.
“No one can choose their predecessors and sometimes our ancestors in this family conveyed pressures that were tough to face. But, all in all, this is an amazing family tree -- and, in this collection of photos, we explore just a couple of branches within its vast crown of leaves!”

Actually, we'll sum this up as Charles Dickens did himself, placing the words in the mouth of Ebenezer Scrooge as old Scrooge scrambles eagerly out of his bed in Chapter 5 of the tale on that bright and glorious Christmas morning. The man is simply thrilled to be alive and he’s joyous over his chance at a whole new direction in life.

He’s poised happily in the midst of his first 360-degree moment of mindfulness – and it’s so glorious to behold that this tale survives in lively, creative forms 163 years after Dickens originally published it.

And so, in "The End of It," Scrooge proclaims: “I will live in the Past, the Present and the Future! The Spirits of all Three shall strive within me. Oh, Heaven and the Christmas Time be praised for this! I say it on my knees! On my knees!”

From Spirit Scholars, we can only add: Have a Happy and a MINDFUL New Year!

VISION 03: A Path to Happiness Lit by the Glow of Compassion

It's time to quit whining here at Spirit Scholars! Half-way through our 4-part, End-of-the-Year series of VISION-Starters, it's time for us to make like Ebenezer Scrooge, halfway through "A Christmas Carol," and stop grumbling about the confusing Spirits hovering around us. Just like Scrooge, somewhere around the scene in which he glimpses his old boss Fezziwig's generosity at the holidays, it's time for us to make a sharp turn in our thinking. It's time to zero in on strategies for setting things right in our world.

Today's VISION-Starter No. 3 may seem like a truism, not even worth mentioning, to many or our readers. But remember that Boston University's Stephen Prothero -- in his upcoming book about religious literacy -- reports that more than half of his incoming Religious Studies students each year can't identify "The Golden Rule" in his opening quiz. (Click here to read more about Prothero's work.)

Comassion is spiritual bedrock in most of our traditions. In Christianity, it's so basic that most of our readers can recite such teachings by heart. But it's far broader than any one faith. In Buddhism, for instance, it's the cohesive principle that connects a disciple's ever-growing Clarity of Vision to the fabric of life in the Real World. The venerable Eightfold Path is all about recognizing that the abandonment of human desire is directly related to the blossoming of compassion.

SO, HERE is a whole collection of mini-VISION-Starters -- all examples of compassion either blossoming -- or going tragically awry -- to spur our meditation on where we hope to find ourselves in 2007:

FIRST, Speaking of Scrooge, let's not deceive ourselves into thinking that, hey, everybody's naturally compassionate. No, the truth is that there are a LOTof un-reconstructed Scrooges out there. Did you catch the Christmas Eve edition of the New York Times Business section? Check out the piece by Gretchen Morgenson, headlined "A Lump of Coal Might Suffice." She reported on the stunning severance package that ousted Pfizer CEO Hank McKinnell hauled away with him -- one fifth of a Billion dollars ($200 million in all, Morgenson reported)! She wrote that his immense settlement "is even more disturbing when put next to the roughly $137 billion in market value that vaporized on his watch. That Mr. McKinnell forced his shareholders to pay $305,644 for his unused days off after draining them of $137 billion is downright stupefying." We ask: Where are those Ghosts when a real-life Scrooge needs to be scared out of his wits?

THEN: How about a movie this weekend? Check out "The Good Shepherd," a deeply thought-provoking experience at nearly 3 hours filled with haunting scenes orchestrated by director Robert DeNiro. It's the tale of Edward Wilson (played by Matt Damon), an idealistic Yale graduate who wants to help the world (or at least the American portion of it). He joins the World War II OSS, seeking out Nazi agents in the midst of the Blitz of Britain, and continues into the post-war agency that eventually  becomes the CIA. Really, the movie is a cautionary tale of America's best aspirations going sadly awry, at times. The young man starts out nobly proud of his country and burning with compassion for the Americans he claims to want to safeguard. And by the end of the film? Well, the prices Mr. Wilson pays by the closing credits are heartbreaking. The key question raised in the film is this: Where do our boundaries lie when we seek to help the people around us?

WELL, speaking of boundaries, let's switch to a truly prophetic Boundary Crosser: Evangelical writer and teacher Tony Campolo. In case you missed it in the holiday crush, Campolo released a brand-new book this month, called simply: "Letters to a Young Evangelical." Trust us on this one: For Protestant clergy and teachers, this is a Must Buy book that we all should savor and, then, keep on our office shelves to pass along to someone else. Campolo continues along the trajectory that many people have called "prophetic" (and some have called "outspoken" and some have called "heretical," to be honest). He's a unique voice, at the moment, using his accumulated authority to call for -- yes, you guessed it: Compassion. What makes his book so unusual is that he addresses topics, such as sexual orientation, that other compassionate evangelicals still fear to address.

BUT, Wait a Minute! We've focused on the Famous so far -- and the whole idea of compassion is that we ALL need to express this in our ordinary, everyday lives. That's why it is so COOL to read that the giant Beliefnet online magazine awarded its "Most Inpsiring Person of the Year" prize to the Amish of Nickel Mines, Pennsylvania. This community showed amazing spiritual resources -- and compassion -- in the face of heartbreaking tragedy this year. (Click here to read Spirit Scholars' earlier Amish story, which explains part of their remarkable religious response.)  (OR: Click here to jump to Beliefnet and read their more in-depth coverage of the Amish -- and about other nominees for Beliefnet's Most Inspiring prize, too.)

Compassion is woven into the fabric of many religious communities. This weekend, Muslims are celebrating the Hajj (the pilgrimage season) with the Eid Al-Adha holiday, known in English as the Feast of the Sacrifice. The ancient story that's recalled on this occasion is Abraham's willingness to obey God and sacrifice his son -- his son Ishmael in the Muslim version of the story. That was the crucial moment in our shared tradition when Abraham learned a major lesson about God's compassion and, of course, his son was spared from any evil that day. To this day, Muslim families in many parts of the world still mark the holiday by symbolically sacrificing a sheep, then distributing meat to family, friends and needy neighbors. The idea is to remember the ancient story with an eye to compassionately meeting the needs of the entire community. In the United States, Muslim families also plan holiday meals for themselves, while making some charitable provision to help hungry families, as well.

Finally, here's a high-tech idea that's fresh from Washington D.C. The Holocaust Memorial Museum is launching a creative effort to weave compassionate concerns into a bi-weekly Podcast on the dangers of hatred and specifically anti-semitism. This is a most timely offering in an era when a world leader as prominent as Iran's president thinks its a savvy political move to stage a global conference of Holocaust deniers. The new Washington-based Podcast series debuted with Supreme Court Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg discussing her own experiences with anti-semitism as well as her thoughts on free speech and Holocaust denial. (Click here to jump to the Holocaust Museum's site and check out the Podcasts.) (Or, Click here to read some of our Spirit Scholars coverage of the Iranian conference.)

SURELY, these are enough images of Compassion to get us thinking, right? If you've got thoughts to share, leave a Comment here -- or drop us an email, if you prefer, by clicking here.

And STAY TUNED -- There's one more Spirit in this tale, a fourth VISION-starter looming on Friday.

VISION 02 Meets CROWDSOURCING VI: IF "I am he as you are he as you are ME," then Where Are We?

"I am he as you are he as you are me and we are all together. See how they run like pigs from a gun, see how they fly. I'm crying."
-- The Beatles

"The Best lack all conviction, while the Worst / Are full of passionate intensity. / Surely some revelation is at hand"
-- W.B. Yeats

"God has shown strength with his arm, has scattered the Proud in the imaginations of their hearts. God has brought down the Powerful from their thrones, and lifted up the Lowly; he has filled the Hungry with good things -- and sent the Rich away empty."
-- Mary

Two thousand years later, Mary is right -- again.

Here at Spirit Scholars, we've been charting this cultural tsunami through the autumn, but the cacophony of year-end voices is demonstrating conclusively that what many of us (including Wired Magazine) call Crowdsourcing is emerging as The Most Important Cultural Trend of the year. Truth be told, if you read through our coverage of this trend, it's obvious that this shift in Cultural Authority -- from Professionals to All of Us -- has been unfolding for a long time.

(For instance, Click here to jump to our first Crowdsourcing article -- or Click here to read our coverage of YouTube, which turned out to be the technological harbinger of Crowdsourcing for many, especially when it became obvious just how much money that little online video venture was worth: Billions!)

THIS WEEK, though, anyone can see the Handwriting on these Walls. One only has to glance around the landscape this week to see that Crowdsourcing -- or whatever else people are calling it -- is truly triumphant.

So, HERE is our VISION-Starter question for today: Are we witnessing a wonderful Lifting Up of the Lowly, full of grace and creative compassion, OR are all of us are becoming Proud and Lost in our self-centered Imaginations -- OR as Yeats warned, are we seeing the ominous rise of the "Worst," using all their "Passionate Intensity" to reshape the world in their own image?

Not sure what Signs we're seeing? Well, in recent days, the New York Times and Time Magazine seem to have jointly fired the starter's pistol on the rising consensus -- and they've even occasionally fired pistols back and forth at each other over the trend. Click here to read our earlier story on the NYTimes' opening shot.

In retrospect, that early-December piece in the Times Arts section seems downright tentative compared with Time Magazine's controversial decision to award its now-legendary Person of the Year award to: YOU.

If you missed it, here's a brief snippet of Lev Grossman's Time Magazine cover story, explaining the concept. (And Time Magazine back issues now are easily available online, if you care to read the rest of the cover story.) But, here's just a brief quote from Grossman's piece: "The 'Great Man' theory of history ... took a serious beating this year. To be sure, there are individuals we could blame for the many painful and disturbing things that happened in 2006. ... But look at 2006 through a different lens and you'll see another story, one that isn't about conflict or great men. It's a story about community and collaboration on a scale never seen before. It's about the cosmic compendium of knowledge Wikipedia and the million-channel people's network YouTube and the online metropolis MySpace. It's about the many wresting power from the few and helping one another for nothing and how that will not only change the world, but also change the way the world changes."

HOWEVER, the team at the New York Times fired back a mighty salvo this past Sunday. Frank Rich, a former Time Magazine staffer himself, took aim squarely at that Person of the Year cover story and fired both barrels. First, he called it "a bountiful gift of mirth" and spent the entire first column of his Sunday piece scoffing at the Times editors.

Beyond the acidic opening, Rich had a serious point in this skewering. In the middle of his piece, he finally got to the heart of his argument: "As our country sinks deeper into a quagmire -- and even a conclusive Election Day repudiation of the war proves powerless to stop it -- we the people, and that includes, yes, you, will seek out any escape hatch we can find. In the Iraq era, the dropout nostrums of choice are not the drugs and drug culture of Vietnam but the equally self-gratifying and narcissistic pastimes of the Internet. Why not spend hour upon hour passionately venting in the blogosphere, as Time suggests, about our 'state of mind or the state of the nation or the steak-frites at the new bistro down the street'? Or an afternoon surfing from video to video on YouTube, where short-attention-span fluff is infinite? It's more fun than the nightly news, which, as Laura Bush reminded us this month, has been criminally lax in unearthing all those 'good things that are happening' in Baghdad."

To illustrate Rich's column, a large Barry Blitt sketch atop the page showed a comfortable, middle-aged American blissfully reading a magazine in his easy chair -- as his poor little dog looks anxiously out the window at flames rising and explosions rocking the world.

GULP! That's definitely 1 Vote for BOTH "Lost in our Imagination" AND  Yeats' "Worst" theories about what's unfolding.

As 2006 dwindles, more votes are falling like snowflakes in a Denver blizzard.

U.S. News & World Report's Year-End cover story suggests -- thankfully -- that people should use their newfound Authority wisely. The U.S. News editors actually suggest that people start reading more books about the larger world, learn more about Islam and think about organizing grassroots book-discussion groups to increase our awareness of the larger world. Bravo to U.S. News for that strong word of advice!

But, there also are enough silly snowflakes to obscure such wisdom. Sometimes these little notes are so silly that we suspect they're really votes for the Beatles' absurdist hymn in which meanings tumble over each other until we lose all perspective.

A Low Point in New York Times coverage, for instance, appeared in this morning's special "Year in Food" section, which declared: "Professional chefs took a back seat to home cooks and home cooking in 2006." To be fair to Times writer Julia Moskin, there was a business-related point buried in her article -- that TV producers and publishers seem more interested, at the moment, in highlighting unknown cooks rather than already-famous ones. But much of Moskin's story was padded with New York snobbery and observations  too obvious to be called news (for instance, that circulation is growing for cooking magazines aimed at ordinary people). And the overall thrust of the story -- saluting the culinary skills of millions of Americans -- is virtually another voice in the choir of Time Magazine's own Hymn to Commoners, which the New York Times already had ridiculed on Sunday. Or, as the Beatles put it "I am he as you are he as ..."

If we sound inappropriately amused by all of this, then you've missed our purpose here at Spirit Scholars. We are provocative here, because our whole purpose at Spirit Scholars -- and the Ann Arbor-based Center for Spirituality in American Life -- is to scan the horizon for signs of changes in spirituality, culture, media and values. Our whole purpose is to slice through mists, throw open windows, hang up mirrors, encourage fresh strategies for enlarging and focusing our vision. And, then, we want to open up a safe forum for people to pause, reflect and, if they wish, comment by dropping us a line. (Feel free -- Click here to email your thoughts to us.)

So, we'll close VISION 02 / Crowdsourcing VI with one last Mirror: The Mirror of Galadriel from J.R.R. Tolkien's "Lord of the Rings." If you're a Rings fan, you know what we're talking about already. If not, this particular mirror is a basin of water that summons visions from the horizon. THE KEY to this mirror's power, however, is its mystery. Galadriel cannot predict what viewers will see in this mirror -- or whether what they see will actually unfold.

We like that image. It describes the little pool of reflective water that we're tending here -- just for You.

VISION 01: Through the Looking Glass; Troubling Glimpses of Iraqi Justice and Britney Spears' Poor Judgment

If we didn't think the world was Upside Down already, all it took was today's Top-of-the-Front-Page headline, shown at right (you can always click on images in Our Spirit to enlarge them, if you wish). As stunning as it may sound, Times Baghdad correspondent Marc Santora reported that, on Christmas Day, our Coalition forces in Iraq attacked an Iraqi police station and destroyed it -- as the only reliable strategy to prevent kidnapping and torture of innocent Iraqis by the police themselves.

We know -- It's Through the Looking Glass, but apparently it's true: This particular unit within the Iraqi police, supposedly trained and supported by the Coalition (at least in theory), was called the Serious Crimes Unit. However, instead of solving Serious Crimes, these so-called police were committing them. The troops liberated about 100 severely tortured and abused prisoners from the facility. They were so concerned that these so-called police might return to their nefarious deeds that they leveled the facility.

And, as we move through the holiday season, the training and equipping of Iraqi police and soldiers is emerging as our country's major strategy in the war-torn country in 2007. Let's hope we're not training more of these Serious Crimes Units, which we'll likely have to blow up a year from now.

The Spirit Scholars theme here?
VISION
It's so difficult to see the world, not only because of the haze of war and war-time propaganda, but because of what Mary describes in her great hymn of praise in the Nativity story:  We are "lost in the imaginations of our hearts."

And, what does that often-overlooked gem in the midst of Mary's song really mean? Well, as lifelong media junkies, we LOVE the final days of each year when one magazine after another offers its year-end assessment of what 2006 really MEANT -- and what we SHOULD DO in 2007, as US News & World Report's current cover story puts it "to Improve Your Life."

We think there's no better illustration of the tragedy Mary describes in that one haunting line than the front cover of the current "US" Magazine, a People Magazine clone that screams at customers from the check-out aisles of Target and grocery stores coast to coast this week with a headline of such global urgency that, here at Spirit Scholars, we are stopping everything to ponder it: "BRAD's JOY, JEN's PAIN: Aniston's heart breaks as Angelina reveals more details of her dream family life with Brad and how they fell in love. 'It's killing her,' says a pal."

NOW, you're probably shaking your head already at this Year-End assessment of the Big News in the World, but, before you scoff at the folks at US, the editors explain the spiritual linkage between that enormous front-pae headline and OUR life on page 32 in another big headline that proclaims: "STARS -- They're Just Like US!" To prove the point, this double-page spread includes a photo of Jane Fonda eating a candied apple, Minnie Driver cruising down a street in her neighborhood on a bicycle and Prince William throwing darts.

But the single biggest exercise of Global Vision -- the Summing Up 2006 Headline that dominates the cover is: "US Year-end Wrap Up: BRITNEY: Worst-Dressed Star of 2006!" Or, actually UN-dressed star is the leering point of the cover story. And lest we're tempted to pour scorn on US Magazine for pointing out this milestone in American cultural history in such a prominent way -- we've noticed this particular story in a host of national publications, including the Times itself. (In case you've been living in a G-rated bubble in recent weeks, the story involves Ms. Spears' apparent disdain for underwear and the fact that she's been photographed on several occasions "flashing" the general public -- and we're not talking about a slip of a neckline here. This is a seriously disturbed young woman, it seems, who has lost all sense of social propriety. (AND -- don't worry -- the photo of Britney at right with this article is strictly PG-rated.)

BOTTOM LINE HERE: In this week of special Spirit Scholars reflections on Vision, we ask: While Ms. Spears' strange behavior apparently is newsworthy -- is that where our Vision should be directed? It seems to us that it truly does become a Spiritual issue when Life & Death, Good & Evil are turning head over heels in corners of the world for which we hold a major responsibility, like Iraq.

So, we invite you to check back this week for daily doses of VISION-starters from Spirit Scholars.

AND HERE's a great place to start: Foreign Policy Magazine. This summer, we had a chance to travel in Asia on a special reporting project through the East-West Center with Foreign Policy's Managing Editor Will Dobson -- and we can affirm from personal observation of Dobson's work in Indonesia and Bangladesh that there's hardly a sharper set of eyes to be found in American journalism.

Rather than serving up one more list of the Year's Top Stories, Dobson and his staff are offering us "The Top 10 Stories You Missed in 2006." And these are humdingers. They're all social and political in nature, which is Foreign Policy's forte. But, here at Spirit Scholars, we suggest that you Click Here to Read Foreign Policy's List. Because, we believe this is one way to Re-Focus our Vision -- by looking for things we may have missed the first time around.

(AND, we'll also insert a plug for the Detroit Free Press here. If you're interested in this kind of issue, make sure you don't miss the final Our Spirit column of the year in the Saturday December 30 issue of the Free Press, which will report a remarkable story from that Asian reporting project.)

From Foreign Policy's year-end perspective, one intriguing example is Overlooked Story No. 7: The Gender Gap is Narrowing Globally. That's not something we expected to read -- but there's evidence to support this claim. Here's a quote from FP's No. 7 item to get you thinking: "It was a good year for women in politics. Female heads of state took office in Chile and Liberia, and Hillary Clinton and Ségolène Royal set tongues wagging in Washington and Paris over their own presidential prospects. But it was also a great year for future female leaders, especially those in poor countries. ... The gender gap in secondary education is closing or has closed in most developing countries. Particularly in Latin America and Asia, girls are attending school at the same rate—or higher—than boys. In 1990 in China, for example, 75 girls attended secondary school for every 100 boys. Today, that figure is 97."

So, please, check in with us here at Spirit Scholars this week. It should be a fun, mind-stretching look at the Spirits of the Year that is Past -- and reflections on the Spirits of the Year Yet to Come. Post a Comment here with your own reflections -- or click here to drop us an Email with your thoughts.

And, if you're new to Spirit Scholars, cruise through our other stories on the site, check out our Categories in the left-hand margin of the site -- or use our Search box in the upper right corner to find subjects that interest you. Read ON!

Here's a TIP: Set Your Recorders BEFORE Christmas for "AFTER Jesus"

HERE's a TV show you should not miss, even though its relationship to Christmas is negligible. The fact that CNN is debuting "After Jesus: The First Christians" this week is just another sign that Christmas has triumphed over Easter in this country as the Big Season each year for All Things Christian. (CNN is hardly alone in thinking this. Newsweek and Time magazine discovered long ago that a religiously themed cover story at this time of year -- whatever that cover story might be -- will send copies flying off newsstands.)

So, don't expect a strong Nativity theme in CNN's production -- and, frankly, we'll all find ourselves quibbling with some details in the two-hour documentary that takes us from Jesus' life and death all the way through the Emperor Constantine's conversion. But, bottom line -- CNN sank a bundle in this production and it's fun to watch!

JUMPING TO THE KEY DETAILS: It airs on CNN at 7 pm December 20. Then it reruns: Friday, Dec 22: 10 pm and later "that night" at 1 am. And on Saturday and Sunday, Dec 23-24: 8 pm and midnight both nights. All times are Eastern.

((Regular Readers of Spirit Scholars will note: December 20 ALSO is the evening that PBS' superb "Picturing Mary" debuts in Detroit, although times for the one-hour, PBS documentary vary from one PBS station to another. That's ALSO a highly recommended film. Rather than Jesus' life, the PBS film focuses on the evolving visual image -- and meaning -- of Mary through the centuries from northern Africa and the Middle East across Europe.))

Those of us who live and breathe religious media -- and have turned into documentary junkies in the last few years -- will recognize some of our favorite "character actors" in the CNN production. For instance, Bart Ehrman seems to everywhere these days -- and he's baa-aack in "After Jesus." And, how could we even call it a real Religious Documentary without the upper-crust British accent of the Rev. Robin Griffith-Jones, rector of Temple Church, London? Fresh from all of his "DaVinci Code" appearances, Griffith-Jones seems to be hitting his stride!

And, the voice-over narration? No, this time they didn't go with Morgan Freeman or a Freeman-sound-alike. But, they managed to book another Great Voice: Actor Liam Neeson!

Yes, there are a few touches here designed to appeal to the lowest common denominator among viewers. The CNN producers figured out a way to prominently feature blazing torches and dangerously slashing Roman swords throughout the show. That may seem a little cheesy until we remember that even the esteemed National Geographic crew figured out a way to include  high-impact scenes of Romans torturing Christians in the coliseum in its documentary on the "Gospel of Judas." Apparently, Cecil B. DeMille's instinct for focusing on the "swords-and-sandals" in biblical epics has not entirely vanished.

What's "new" here? Well, to be honest: Nothing at all in terms of new research for clergy, scholars or well-informed followers of the early centuries of Christianity. But the point is: This is a pretty cool presentation of material that we may already know.

It's fun to watch! And, OK, we'll admit that that we did get hooked on a new style of special effect the CNN producers pulled off for this film. They call it "Art to Life," a process that involves extensive computer modeling of classic religious paintings. CNN's graphic artists, using high-tech computer software, basically mapped the imagery in these famous paintings and were able to bring them "to life" as 3-D images and, then, to build up some fresh collages of those vivid images.

Does this computer gimmick do visual violence to the original art? Well, shucks, sure it does. And are these artistically rendered scenes historically accurate? Well, shucks, no -- most of them are artists' impressions of the events. But -- hey -- it's COOL to watch. Plus, the experts are, by and large, a capable crew and Liam Neeson's voice is worth a listen, anytime.

So, for fans of this emerging form of cinematic reflection, rest assured: You'll settle in quickly and the two hours will zip right past enjoyably. If you're busy with pre-holiday preparations this week, make sure to set your recorder, your TIVO or whatever device you're using these days to multi-task in the media realm and -- don't miss this one.

If you catch it -- feel free to tell us what you think. Post a Comment here, or click to drop us an Email.

"O Come All Ye Faithless" -- Quickly, Before the January Clearance Sales

Let's hope our new friends, the New Atheists, have a sense of humor.

For the most part, their efforts to launch a full-frontal assault on religion continue to seem as earnest as -- well, as a Crusade. On the Random House-Knopf web site currently, Sam Harris continues to insist that his books are intended to fuel a "demolition of Christianity." And a full-color, full-page Knopf advertisement in the New York Times Book Review this past Sunday showed a bizarrely conceived image of Santa Claus with a cross over his shoulder seeming to choke and weep -- both at the same time -- as he reads Sam's "Letter to a Christian Nation." An elf whispers into St. Nick's ear, "This year, give the gift of reason."

But, all is not entirely well with the Atheist campaign. In the same Sunday edition of the Times was a "Week in Review" article about this popular little gang of writers that pointed out, ironically: Even these Grinches sometimes enjoy a good Christmas season in their personal lives. An accompanying Times photo-illustration teased these activists' apparent holiday waffling. The illustration showed a fanciful stack of Christmas books especially suited to this gang, including titles like: "Popcorn-Stringing for Atheists," "Eggnog for Unbelievers," "O Come All Ye Faithless," and our personal favorite, "When the Godless Go A-Wassailing."

We've been writing about the emergence of this circle of writers throughout the autumn, and even though this is SPIRIT Scholars, we're not complete nay-sayers to these acid-tongued activists. The central point they are raising -- that religion all too often fuels bigotry and violence -- is an important truth that we all need to explore in this new century we're entering. Some common ground could exist between us.

But there are signs that the new atheists -- Harris, Richard Dawkins and their friends -- already are being packaged as a marketable commodity -- and we all know what happens when a prophetic movement gets stamped with a bar code.

Here's an example: Most American publishing houses recently sent out catalogues for the Spring 2007 season and a number of these companies -- in the religious/spiritual sections of their catalogues had at least one, prominent "atheist" or "anti-religious" book to offer. One publishing house pointed out that its atheist offering is a smart move for booksellers, because this is expected to be a solid, profitable, niche market in publishing in the early part of 2007.

There's a definite sense that these atheists are a "wave" -- and these writers are somewhere in the midst of their 15 Minutes of Fame. The Times story on Sunday (by Randy Kennedy) began this way: "If last holiday season charitably could have been described as the war-on-Christmas Christmas -- with Bill O'Reilly of Fox News declaring war on the warriors and others declaring war on him -- maybe it's not such a stretch to think of this year's prevalent yuletide theme as the war-on-Christ Christmas."

Makes us wonder if the new atheists won't be going the way of those "icicle lights" that our neighbors drizzled along their gutters a few years ago or "animated deer" that nodded their heads at us from other neighbors' yards in the seasons before that. So, in the publishing world, this year the Christmas trend is animated atheists -- and next year? Perhaps a return to inflatable evangelists for the holidays?

Kidding aside, it seems to us that if the new atheists could tone down a little bit of their fury and the faithful could stand to discuss the arguments these folks are raising -- there could be some fruitful conversation here. But, it's sounding like we all ought to hurry -- before the atheists are marked down in the last week of December and, then, vanish into the January Clearance Bins.

Want to read more of our coverage of this trend? Click here for our first article on the new atheists, headlined "Let's Try to Make Friends." Click here for our piece on a recent conference of atheists, headlined "When Is a Scientist Like a Plumber?" And here's a link to our closely related article on the term "Fundamentalism."

Slouching Toward the Light, Until the Police Arrive: A True And Timeless Christmas Tale

AN UPDATE ON THIS ARTICLE, which is one of many Christmas/Nativity articles we published here at Spirit Scholars in late 2006. If you're new to the site -- or just love Christmas reflections -- here are quick links to all of our Christmas coverage this year: First, you've already found THIS article: Our True and Timeless Christmas Tale of Cops and Clarity
Here are others, starting with: Prophetic Cards
Or: Our 1st "Nativity" story
Or: Actress' bittersweet tale
Or: Our Movie Review
Or: Violence & Nativity
Or: Dickens & Diversity 
Or: CNN on "After Jesus"
Or: Maaa in Christmaaas

THEN -- Here's the full text of this popular article ... ...

The call from the police came just after dawn today -- and, as Christmas looms, her Mom and I had not shaken awake from our long winter's nap.

But the words from my wife, as she pressed the phone to her ear, were electrifying: "The police have Megan!"

I sat up now, wide awake -- at least, I thought I was awake.

Then, with the phone still pressed to her ear, my wife said: "People reported her as jumper!"

I shook my head. Was I awake? A jumper? And, I swear that this next part of the story is true: I knew that Megan had just arrived home a few days ago from a half a year studying literature and anthropology in Pune, India. She's half way through her junior year at Albion College and she's brimming with creative energy and plans for the future. I actually thought: Oh, she probably was so energetic that she was jumping up and down as she took one of her long walks -- and someone thought that looked so bizarre that they called the cops.

Then, as a veteran journalist, I thought: No, I know what it is! Since she's been home from India, she has continued the Asian custom of taking long walks and I'll bet she was jumping over someone's fence as she walked through the winding streets of our subdivision. She must have taken a shortcut that someone thought was trespassing.

But, no! As my wife put down the phone, she said, "People phoned the police because they were afraid she was a jumper from the Cherry Hill overpass above I-275!"

There was a moment of horror. Could this be? Had we missed something in all of Megan's wonderful excitement and optimism about the world? Was there a darker side?

Well, yes and no.

First: Megan most definitely is NOT suicidal. So, that's the lighter side of this true tale. Within moments, we were standing in the driveway and a slightly embarrassed young police officer was dropping off Megan,  who was smiling as she got out of the back seat of his cruiser.

Since returning from India, Megan has been taking long walks and, while in India, she gained a deep appreciation for morning meditation coupled with a view of the sunrise. In India, this was easy with all sorts of high elevations to enjoy. In Canton, about the only elevation from which she could enjoy the sunrise was an artificial hill built for the Cherry Hill overpass. And, in fact, she wasn't even on the bridge itself. She was sitting on a wooden post that was part of the protective railings for cars on the edge of the hill.

How ominous was this activity in the midst of our Canton culture? It was pretty threatening, apparently. According to the police officer, Megan actually is a serial offender in these sunrise treks to this unexpected
vantage point. Her presence there had been reported once before, but the cops hadn't arrived in time to nab her.

This morning? FOUR police cars were involved in the apprehension of this young woman in the midst of  morning prayer as she gazed toward the golden ribbons spreading across the horizon.

As we talked in our kitchen, after the officer's departure, Megan's relief was obvious. "You know, when they put you in their cars, you can't open the doors from the inside. It's serious stuff."

And then, as a young writer, she said the next obvious thing: "But what a story to tell about our world! Think about what this says about our world and this -- this suburbia in which we live! There is something fundamentally so wrong about our world, if a solitary person on foot out there seems like a dangerous thing to people around here!"

It is a profound insight, we think, because it's another way to perceive the vast chasm yawning in our world between rich and poor, between powerful and oppressed -- the timeless theme this season in several religious traditions.

This morning's experience threw into stark relief another way to describe this troubling chasm: In our world, there are now Drivers (with all that term implies) -- and People Afoot.

Any of us who have traveled to other continents understand this distinction in an instant. Billions of our sisters and brothers around the world are afoot, because they cannot afford even a motorbike, let alone a car, van or SUV. And, millions are afoot because they are fleeing oppression, poverty and desperately seeking a better life.

In the new "Nativity Story" film, director Catherine Hardwicke makes it clear to viewers that Mary and Joseph, the poor young couple from Nazareth, were able to escape King Herod's lethal intentions mainly because they were poor travelers stumbling along the rocky, hilly roads of the region. They were virtually invisible to Herod and his men.

In Canton, what Megan is doing in the wake of her half a year in India is crossing a great cultural divide. She is now regularly a person afoot.

The timeless spiritual wisdom here echoes throughout the world's scriptures -- and it's right there in the Nativity story in a largely ignored part of the biblical record. It's a portion of scripture that several of speakers pointed toward at the marvelous, two-hour-long "Conversation on Mary" on Tuesday night at the Ecumenical  Theological Seminary in Detroit: No one seems to preach much about "the second half of Mary's Magnificat."

In light of Megan's experience -- and this important  insight about the shape of our wounded world -- we think there's more to this problem than just clergy who choose to focus on "other" highlights of the Christmas story and simply run out of time to  mention this passage. No, we suspect the second half of Mary's Magnificat is so deeply troubling that its implications are tough to preach, especially to suburban congregations.

Here are the verses that we think would likely cause some serious discomfort among the SUV-owning classes. And, if  you haven't seen Hardwicke's film yet -- catch it before Christmas -- because she uses these verses as the thundrous climax of her movie:

Mary sings of God's "strong arm" and her assurance that "He has brought down the powerful from their thrones, and lifted up the lowly; He has filled the hungry with good things, and sent the rich away empty. He has helped his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy, according to the promise he made to our ancestors, to Abraham and to his descendants for ever."

And here's the most terrifying line in the entire song, we think. If so much is happening in God's compassionate plan to help the world's most needy, then why aren't the rich even aware of it?

The answer in the Magnificat is this: God's compassionate power is largely invisible to the wealthy, because they are spiritually blind, Mary says. Or, in the King James Version of the text, Mary puts it this way: God "hath scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts."

That's why a solitary young woman, afoot in a community of drivers, even if she is only pausing for morning meditation on one of the few hillsides where she can glimpse the dawn, can seem like a threat.

Shall we let our own prayerful meditations explore these ideas today? Think about all the people afoot in our world, all the travelers, the poor, the refugees, the immigrants? What do they look like to us -- if we're even able to glimpse them? And, where is God's eye and heart?

And, lest we close out this tale thinking that it's merely a nice little Christmas tale, we need to be honest with ourselves that the deeper issue here is far more troubling. This chasm -- and spiritual blindness -- fuels the lethal disconnections in our world.

That's a timeless spiritual truth, too. To capture it far more eloquently in this holiday season, we'll close with W.B. Yeats' expression of the troubling truth, penned 86 years ago as he watched the explosive dawn of the 20th Century unfold and pondered its implications from his Irish hillside.

The poem is "The Second Coming" and it goes like this:

Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all convictions, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.
Surely some revelation is at hand;
Surely the Second Coming is at hand.
The Second Coming!  Hardly are those words out
When a vast image out of Spiritus Mundi
Troubles my sight: somewhere in sands of the desert
A shape with lion body and the head of a man,
A gaze blank and pitiless as the sun,
Is moving its slow thighs, while all around it
Reel shadows of the indignant desert birds.
The darkness drops again; but now I know
That twenty centuries of stony sleep
Were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle,
And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,
Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?

But, tell us what you think. Add a Comment below -- or drop us an Email with your own holiday thoughts.

Have a Happy Hanukkah! As We Approach the First Candle on Friday, We Add a Few More Lights

Happy Hanukkah!

On Friday evening, keep your eyes open for the glow of candles in neighbors' windows as the Festival of Lights begins.

There's a whole lot online about the holiday, which marks a victory 2,170 years ago by a small group of Jews who reclaimed the descrated temple in Jerusalem from a king who was determined -- under threat of death -- to wipe out Jewish faith and culture. Not only was the temple nearly ruined, but Jews were ordered to adopt the Greek culture that was sweeping large parts of the ancient world. In the face of overwhelming evil, the daring Maccabees prevailed!

Is it "The Jewish Christmas"? No, that kind of phrase might be used, in joking perhaps, if weary parents are talking about the gift-giving pressures that American Jewish families face in what is often called the December Dilemma. But it's not a helpful reference and it may sound offensive.

However -- and this is intriguing to think about -- there is a direct link to Christianity, which even many rabbis may mention in their talks about the holiday. If the Maccabees had not reclaimed the temple in Jerusalem in this little chapter of history, which is largely unknown to Christians, then the wandering Jewish teacher, Jesus of Nazareth, would have stepped into an entirely different world about 170 years later.

(The photo at left here is a fanciful Maccabees vs. Hellenists chess set created by artist Giani Tosso. Click here to read a little more about his work.)

One wonders, as well, how Islam may have been affected, had it not been for the bravery of the Maccabees. If Judaism had vanished, and if Jesus (who is regarded as a great Prophet in Islam) had lost his cultural context ... ... Well, we don't mean to push too hard on this "What If" scenario, but the entire modern shape of the Abrahamic Faiths might have looked a lot different. So, while no one wants to "steal" the spiritual genius of another person's holiday -- we might all express a word of thanks as our Jewish friends light their candles, starting Friday night.

And the oil? Well, the miraculous story of the sacred oil that burned for eight days, after the Maccabees reclaimed the temple, is a later addition to the tradition. That's what many rabbis will explain in their talks about the holidays. Nevertheless, it remains a wonderful part of the overall story -- and is related to the annual enjoyment of treats like oil-fried latkes (potato pancakes) and oil-fried jelly doughnuts (although some Jewish families, especially those watching their weight, don't serve the pastries anymore).

NOW, there is MORE here to think about: As our Jewish friends like to say in their Passover readings: If that's all God had accomplished in Hanukkah -- an annual festival for families and friends to celebrate their faith and heritage -- "it would have been enough!"

But there is So Much More to this festival in its underlying themes! Rabbi Emeritus Irwin Groner of Congregation Shaarey Zedek will be featured in the Detroit Free Press this week, reflecting on those timeless themes -- especially in light of the almost biblical-class story of evil eminating from Tehran this week.

If you haven't seen Groner's book, published in 2005, "Renewing Jewish Faith," it's well worth the $30 cost on Amazon. Published by the University of Michigan Press, it's a collection of sermons by a nationally recognized master at Jewish preaching. Yes, if you're a preacher yourself, it's worth coughing up the $30 to have this volume on your shelf.

To prove our point, here's a quote from the final chapter of Groner's book -- on a theme perfectly suited to Hanukkah reflections, especially in light of the troubled times in Tehran this week. In this passage, Groner is wrestling with the problem of living fruitfully in anxious times -- of finding spiritual strength in the face of overwhelming evil. And, he concludes that the key is admitting that evil will be with us in all generations -- but, as people of faith, we can rise above it to gain fresh perspective -- to catch at least a small glimpse of God's perspective.

He writes: “If you can stand on a higher level and continue to see the promised land in spite of the day-to-day heartbreak, the day-to-day frustrations, the day-to-day dis-appointments, that is one of the grandest spiritual achievements a person can attain. In spite of all the crime and the corruption and the violence, domestic and international, and the threat of violence, we believe, because of Moses, and because of Isaiah, and because of all the teachers of Judaism, that there is a promised land. And we have mountaintops from which we can look out and acquire this vision. That’s the
Jewish will to believe, because if the heart continues to have faith, the soul will continue to strive for goodness.”

As Christian clergy like to say: That'll preach! (And, by the way, Click here if you'd like to read an earlier Spirit Scholars article about mountain metaphors, focusing on the work of writer Philip Yancey.)

Finally, in our view here at Spirit Scholars -- always seeking to weave connections in the realm of spirituality -- here's a wonderful Hanukkah gift, courtesy of the Council on American-Islamic Relations and Dawud Walid, who is Michigan's coordinator for the nationwide group that focuses on Muslim civil rights.

Dawud wanted Jewish friends across Michigan to know that American Muslims, too, are shocked by the Iranian president's conference this week. (Click here to read our Spirit Scholars article on that, if you haven't seen it already. The events in Tehran this week, set in motion by the Iranian president, are virtually a biblical tale of evil on the rise.) On Wednesday, Dawud telephoned some Jewish colleagues and also sent out an email to express his own "disgust about this matter. We are trying to do our part by standing up for justice and improving our relationship with our Jewish brethren."

The official CAIR statement, issued nationally from Washington D.C., "condemned a conference in Iran that seeks to deny the Holocaust, the systematic destruction of the Jewish community in Europe by the Nazis during World War II. No legitimate cause or agenda can ever be advanced by denying or belittling the immense human suffering caused by the murder of millions of Jews and other minority groups by the Nazi regime and its allies during World War II. Cynical attempts to use Holocaust denial as a political tool in the Middle East conflict will only serve to deepen the level of mistrust and hostility already present in that troubled region."

The group also said: "Islam, through the example of the Prophet Muhammad, has always rejected racism in any form."

To that, we can only add: Amen. And this: Even in these troubled times, enjoy the gatherings yet to come with family and friends, enjoy the lights, enjoy the tasty treats, enjoy the mountaintop perspectives of such a celebration. Happy Hanukkah!

Amazon's 2006 Book of the Year: A Celebration of Spiritual Lights in the Midst of Holocaust's Darkness

Just in time for Hanukkah, the vast Amazon online empire has named Irène Némirovsky's "Suite Francaise" it's BOOK of the YEAR -- the No. 1 choice at the very pinacle of its list of 50 Top Books.

In announcing its award, here's what Amazon had to say: Our choice for the Best Book of 2006 was actually written over 60 years ago. Irène Némirovsky wrote Suite Française under the worst conditions: as a Jew in France under constant threat from the Nazi-allied Vichy government. She didn't live to finish her planned "suite," but what she did write -- which was recently discovered by her daughter and only this year translated into English -- stands on its own as a riveting and remarkably clear-eyed story of life under the occupation.

The Washington Post put it this way in their glowing review of the book: This extraordinary work of fiction about the German occupation of France is embedded in a real story as gripping and complex as the invented one. ... Irène Némirovsky was a Jewish, Russian immigrant from a wealthy family who had fled the Bolsheviks as a teenager. She spent her adult life in France, wrote in French but preserved the detachment and cool distance of the outsider. She and her husband were deported to Auschwitz in 1942, where he was gassed upon arrival and she died in the infirmary at the age of 39. Her manuscript, in minuscule and barely readable handwriting, was preserved by her daughters, who, ignorant of the fact that these notebooks contained a full-fledged masterpiece, left it unread until 60 years later. ... It is hard to imagine a reader who will not be wholly engrossed and moved by this book.

Of course, this also was in the Free Press' Ten Best Spiritual Books list for 2006 -- and was highlighted in our earlier Spirit Scholars article, as well. Click here to read the Spirit Scholars books' piece.

As we became aware of the Amazon prize today, colleagues talked about the book and one asked, "But is it really a 'Spiritual' book?"

We say, emphatically: Yes. Némirovsky's close observation of daily life in a village is infused with her irrepressible faith that goodness springs fresh in the world with each passing season. That's a remarkable -- even a heart-breaking -- spiritual affirmation in light of her own story.

Is it specifically a Hanukkah story? You decide. Certainly the central theme of Hanukkah is the enduring nature of faith and hope, even in the face of terrible tragedy. There's hardly a better book to read in this holiday season to recapture those themes than this long-forgotten masterpiece.

A Shocking Reminder of the Ongoing Need to Promote Holocaust Education

  As shocking as is to the rest of the world, Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad feels it is appropriate to deny the reality of world history in his ongoing effort to fire political missiles at Israel. And, given his stunning afronts to human rights this week, his hateful aggression almost certainly will make more of the world's leaders wary of allowing him to fire real, nuclear missiles toward Israel.

If you've missed the news, here are the opening paragraphs of the piece filed this afternoon by the Associated Press' William J. Kole (a news story filed from Kole's base in Austria, but hitting the key points of the impact of Tehran's adventurism): (AP) — A gathering of Holocaust deniers in Iran touched off a firestorm of indignation Tuesday across Europe, where many countries have made it a crime to publicly disavow the Nazis’ systematic extermination of 6 million Jews. The European Union’s top justice official condemned the conference as “an unacceptable affront” to victims of the World War II genocide. British Prime Minister Tony Blair denounced it as “shocking beyond belief” and proof of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s extremism.

The Vatican also issued an urgent condemnation of the gathering in Iran. In English, Vatican officials declared: "The memory of those horrible events must remain as a warning for people's consciences."

UPDATE to this article: Here at Spirit Scholars, we often write about the difficulty of achieving precision and clarity in our views of the world. There's no question that the Iranian president's remarks were shocking in their implications of violence. But his full text, translated in English, is more difficult to obtain, apparently. News reports continue to be posted from around the world about the conference and Ahmadinejad's comments are quoted in slightly different versions, apparently depending on which English translation was used by each reporter. Also, reporters seem to have quoted various portions of his talk. Here's an Associated Press quote from his talk: “The Zionist regime will be wiped out soon the same way the Soviet Union was, and humanity will achieve freedom."

The two-day conference in Tehran included a sham exhibition of photos with captions rather crudely designed to deny the Holocaust. One exhibition "board," for instance, showed photos of healthy-looking prisoners labeled with the caption "Truth" and photos of other Holocaust scenes labeled "Myth."

American readers will get the drift of this hatefest at a glance, when they spot former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke among the chief participants -- eagerly taking the microphone to help deny the reality of the Holocaust as a Jewish-conceived myth. (In case you've forgotten what he looks like, that's Duke at left in the photo.)

Here's the Bottom Line on this event: The Iranian president apparently is attempting to bolster his own standing among Iranian hard-liners (and throughout the larger Arab and Muslim world) by further infuriating Israel and Western nations on this issue. He's poking the world's eyes with a very sharp stick to increase his own stature.

In English translation, the Reuters wire service quoted the president -- who has earlier refered to the Holocaust as a "myth" and has called for Israel to be "wiped off the map" -- as telling the conference participants on Tuesday:

"Thanks to people's wishes and God's will the trend for the existence of the Zionist regime is downwards and this is what God has promised and what all nations want."

AND: "Just as the Soviet Union was wiped out and today does not exist, so will the Zionist regime soon be wiped out."

Reuters followed these quotes by reporting: His words received warm applause from delegates.

That's absolutely bone chilling to anyone with hopes of improving global relationships.

Now, what are the Spirit Scholars "lessons" from this shocking development? Well, FIRST, many Spirit Scholars readers are clergy, teachers, students, writers and others involved in shaping American attitudes. The news out of Tehran represents a screaming reminder of the importance of continuing to study the Holocaust. (Click here to read our own recent story on one new development.)

SECOND, for those of us involved in global issues, this is a reminder of how commonplace Anti-Semitism remains across much of the Arab and Muslim world, stretching from the Middle East across Asia.

This summer, via the East-West Center based at the University of Hawaii, your Spirit Scholars editor traveled extensively in Indonesia and Bangladesh. (For those who aren't familiar with the international shape of the Islamic world: There are more Muslims in Indonesia alone than in the entire Arab world.) While touring at least a few schools in Indonesia, we made a point of visiting high school libraries and leafing through any Social Studies or History texts we could find. The result? In most boarding schools, the high school texts did cover events in World War II -- and they DID report somewhere the deaths of millions of European Jews. But the references were brief -- sometimes only a single sentence in an entire, thick text about world history. And, the focus of the texts tended to be the dangers of Fascism and not the reality of the Holocaust's calculated use of hate.

We may forget, as Americans, that as recently as 20 years ago, most American students graduated from high schools with very little background in the Holocaust. Educators and activists have worked tirelessly in recent decades to place units on the Holocaust into standard high school programs -- just as they have promoted crucial lessons on the American Civil Rights era. And, in case anyone questions it -- Here at Spirit Scholars, we are saying: That is a very good thing, indeed.

Religious studies, whether pursued as theology, psychology, sociology or anthropology, must recognize even the most tragic truths about religion-related bigotry. The alternative is simply unthinkable -- until we wake up one morning and read about an ugly, anti-intellectual,hatefest like the one unfolding in Tehran. Then, the horror is thinkable, once again.